ATLANTA — It was at times ugly. It certainly wasn’t pretty. But the result was a dramatic Georgia victory in the College Football Semifinals.

In other words, it was typical Stetson Bennett. The former walk-on just wins, even when everything is going against him.

He carried heavily favored Georgia back from a 14-point deficit in the final 10:14, adding to his legacy in Athens with a heart-stopping, 42-41 victory over No. 4 Ohio State in the Peach Bowl on Saturday night.

Bennett’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell with 54 seconds remaining sent the top-seeded Bulldogs to the national championship game for the second straight year. They will look to be the first repeat champion since Alabama in 2011-12, when they face upstart TCU in the CFP title game a week from Monday.

When Ohio State kicker Noah Ruggles pulled a 50-yard kick with three seconds left, the celebration was on, Bennett swarmed by teammates and tears rolling down his eyes.

Though he was shaky for long stretches, Bennett was brilliant when it mattered most, tossing a 76-yard touchdown pass to Arian Smith midway through the fourth quarter to get the Bulldogs’ rally going.

A major turning point came on Ohio State’s previous drive, when it converted a fourth-and-1 on a fake punt. But the officials ruled that Georgia coach Kirby Smart had called timeout before the play and the Buckeyes ended up punting.

Some thought Ohio State, the fourth seed in the four-team playoff, didn’t belong after it was manhandled by Michigan on Thanksgiving weekend. The Buckeyes, however, thoroughly outplayed Georgia most of the game.

Quarterback C.J. Stroud was brilliant, going 23-for-34 for 348 yards and four touchdowns. Bennett, however, ended up on the winning side after throwing for 398 yards and three scores.

Stroud made the Georgia defense look pedestrian, picking apart the secondary. Ohio State’s offensive line held up, and Buckeyes were wide-open and running free all evening. Marvin Harrison Jr. had five catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, and when Georgia tried to take him away, Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming found openings. Ohio State scored the most points Georgia has allowed this year, and it reached 35 points to top the previous high just 4:23 into the second half.

The first half was a shootout: 52 combined points, 561 total yards, seven drives of at least 50 yards and 26 first downs between the two teams. Ohio State’s defense allowed seven plays of at least 20 yards, and gave up a whopping 9.7 yards per play. The Buckeyes did force two field goals, one of which was missed, which felt like significant wins for the unit.

The Buckeyes still were ahead at halftime, mostly because of a brilliant first 30 minutes from Stroud, who completed 15 of 19 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those went to Harrison, who had his way with the Georgia secondary. When the Bulldogs weren’t getting to Stroud, and they did sack him twice in the first half and four times in the game, he was torching them down the field.

Stroud and Harrison broke the ice, combining on a 31-yard scoring strike, and when they connected from 16 yards out with 10:56 left in the second quarter, Georgia was down two touchdowns. It was its largest deficit of the season.

It didn’t last. Just 4:49 later, the Bulldogs were even, after Bennett’s quarterback keeper from 3 yards out. Georgia took its first lead on its next possession on a 32-yard Jack Podlesny field goal and seemed to have all the momentum, obliterating the Buckeyes up front as Bennett hit wide-open receivers for chunks of yards.

The Bulldogs’ defense, though, couldn’t close the half strong. Stroud took Ohio State 75 yards in four plays, finding Xavier Johnson up the seam for a 37-yard score to give the Buckeyes the lead at the break, and they started the second half well.

The defense forced consecutive punts — Georgia’s first two of the game — and Stroud continued to excel under minimal pressure, tossing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Egbuka that extended the lead to 11. Even after pinning Ohio State deep on its next possession, and getting a strong return, Georgia couldn’t pick up a first down. Podlesny then missed his second field goal attempt, this one from 52 yards away.